Blogsters in Hong Kong | TeaWood Taiwanese Cafe & Restaurant

TeaWood Taiwanese Cafe & Restaurant

Location: 10/F, King Wah Centre, 628 Nathan Road, Mong Kok 

(plus 17 other locations in Hong Kong)

Access: MTR and along bus routes 

Price: 50-100 HKD  > 10-15 CAD

Blogsters' Rating: 4.5 / 5  

From 1 restaurant to now over 18 locations in Hong Kong, I finally got to try Teawood without having to wait in line for hours! Teawood is a Modern Taiwanese Style cafe and restaurant that's been extremely popular since it opened in Hong Kong several years ago.

Teawood's menu looks like a magazine reflecting the Taiwanese cafe culture that provide a selection of magazine for their customers. The menu contains beautiful pictures and helpful graphics that showcase favorite dishes that definitely helped me pick from an overwhelming selection of food.

Teawood Stewed Beef Noodle

A traditional Taiwanese dish, this is typically a beef brisket noodle soup with strong flavors. However, compared to most other I've had, this one is not overly salty and has very well balanced flavors. The texture of the noodles is just right and the beef was very tender.

Fried Pork, Marinated Minced Pork with Rice

This is another favorite Taiwanese dish. Usually served only as marinated minced pork with rice but this one is served with a pork cutlet. For those who are familiar with hot star fried chicken, this fried pork is done in a similar way- juicy, tender and the breading is very flavorful. Once you start eating, you won't be able to stop. It definitely left me craving for more. 

Handmade Pasta with Creamy Truffle and Mushroom

As a huge mushroom fan, this pasta dish is a must try. It has a very strong truffle aroma. The handmade pasta is al dente and seems to be the same noodle they used in the beef noodle soup. It came with a generous portion of bacon pieces. Overall a very creamy dish but slightly on the sweet side. 

Cooked Oyster with marinated minced meat with rice in soup

This is by far my favorite dish at Teawood. Yet another Taiwanese favorite, this rice in soup contains a generous serving of oyster, squid, minced pork and dried shrimp. The parsley and pickled vegetables made it very flavorful despite looking like it's a very simple dish. To make this taste even better, I added a lot of white pepper to give it a bit of a kick. This would be the perfect winter dish  but honestly I could eat this every meal. 

Strawberry Vanilla Honey Toast

As for dessert which is always my favorite part, we ordered the strawberry vanilla honey toast which is a favorite at Teawood. Consisting of Thick Toast, vanilla ice cream, fresh strawberries, marshmallow and strawberry sauce, this is quite a refreshing dessert for the hot summer day. The toast came out hot and fresh lathered with melting ice cream which became the perfect combination. We inhaled this in a second because it was so good!   

Teawood definitely made it to one of my top favorite restaurants in Hong Kong. Since they are always busy around dinner time, they don't take reservations so there is always a long lineup outside this restaurant. If you are going as a group, make sure your entire party is there or else they won't seat you. Unfortunately, there is also a 90 minutes seating time limit. However, these limitations don't apply during off hours and that is exactly what I did on my second visit. I have to say though the high quality food makes it all worth while so I highly recommend you all to go check them out if you get a chance to visit Hong Kong! Bon appetite! 

Stay tuned for more delicious eats around the world with Blogsters! We are very excited to share with you our foodie experiences in Toronto, Ottawa, New York City, Barcelona, Hong Kong, Seoul and Osaka! 

xoxo

 Joyce

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LOVE ME SWEET Japanese Cheesecake

Love Me Sweet Japanese Cheesecake

Address: 7181 Yonge Street, Unit #16

Access: Along YRT & VIVA bus route, free parking available

Price: $10 per cheesecake

Blogsters' Rating: 5/5

The much anticipated opening of Love Me Sweet is finally here!  At first, I was very skeptical about Love Me Sweet and thought, "Oh, it's just another cheesecake place". However, I kept hearing good things about them from friends and other people around me, so I decided to give them a try.  They are currently offering two flavours of cheesecake: original and chocolate.  I payed them a visit on a random day before their actual grand opening.  I was unaware of the high demand for their cheesecakes until the staff told me that it would be best if I call in to reserve my cake.  Luckily, I got my hands onto one of their original flavours (the chocolate were all sold out).

The design of the store was quite minimalistic.  As you can tell, their main colour was this coral orange red, which really caught my attention.  Over 80 different drawings were displayed on one of the wall; it would probably take a whole day just to go through and analyze all these intricate drawings.  Nonetheless, the artwork adds an interesting theme to the whole bakery.

I noticed that the packaging of Love Me Sweet was very similar to Uncle Tetsu.  From the cardboard box to the cotton cloth, it's exactly like Uncle Tetsu's. Since I don't have much knowledge about cheesecake, I would have to give them the benefit of the doubt and say that this is actually the best way to keep the freshness, moisture, and flavour of the cheesecake until it is being consumed.

Here's a look at the cheesecake; it looks just like any other cheesecake. The logo of "Love Me Sweet" was actually engraved on the cake, however, you might have a hard time seeing it among the wrinkles of the cake. The texture of the cake was very soft, almost to a point where I felt like it was too soft. As I was cutting the cake, it started to crumble and fell apart.  I love how their cheesecakes have a lot more cheese flavour compared to Uncle Tetsu's.  Also, the cake was very light, airy, and smooth, and could probably be eaten without any teeth because it simply melts in your mouth.  

I would definitely pay them a visit again because I have yet to try their chocolate flavour cheesecake and I really admire their service.  They take phone orders, which means you are guaranteed to have a cheesecake in your hand with no line ups =)  Plus, there are no limitations on how many cheesecake you can purchase.  If any of you have a sweet tooth like me, do give them a try, and remember to call them and reserve your cheesecake =)

*Click here if you would like to read about our experience at Uncle Tetsu's Japanese Cheesecake*

xoxo,

Janet

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Catching the Last Bit of Summer @ Philip's Ice Pops!

Philip's Ice Pops

Location: 157 Bloor Street West (Outside of Club Monaco)

Access: Along TTC subway route

Price: $3.50 each

Blogsters' Rating : 4/5

Philip's Ice Pops is one of the stands
 located outside of Club Monaco on Bloor Street.  I've heard of them before, but never had the chance to try out their hand-crafted gourmet ice pops made with fresh fruits and herbs.  Since Club Monaco Market will probably not be there much longer,  I took the opportunity and paid them a visit while I was in the area.

Philip's Ice Pops offers three main flavours all year round.  

.Lemon Ginger Rosemary

.Watermelon Lime Seasalt

.Strawberry Basil

They also have limited edition seasonal flavours that change depending on the Ontario harvest schedule.  For instance, during my visit to Philip's Ice Pops, their limited editions were Double Double Coffee Pop and Orange Vanilla.

Their labels are so cute!  Especially with the little cat on it.  But I would say they could have done a little better on the packaging, as water was dripping down the popsicles the moment their staff handed them to me.  It was a bit messy.

Aside from the packaging, the flavours of these popsicles were phenomenal.  Unlike any other popsicles I have tried before, these ones are much more refreshing.  You can taste all the different flavours within the popsicle.  The taste of each flavour was very distinct, and they do not over power the other.  If I had the chance, I would definitely go back and try their Lemon Ginger Rosemary, as it was recommended by one of the staff.

Yours truly,

Janet xoxo

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A Sweet Evening at Pastel

Pastel Creperie and Dessert House

Location: 5417 Yonge Street, North York

Access: Along TTC bus route, TTC Subway (Finch station), paid street parking available

Price: minimum $5 per person, $5-10

Blogsters' Rating: 4.5 / 5

Pastel has officially become my most visited cafe in the area! It is a small cafe that serves desserts like waffle, crepes, sundaes, cake and specialty coffee. There's nothing better than having something sweet after a long gloomy day of work! 

This cozy cafe has a few patio seating extending out on to the sidewalk, perfect hangout for a lazy summer afternoon. Top picture is a view of the patio from inside the cafe. 

green tea red bean parfait

This sundae consists of green tea ice cream, red bean paste, whip cream, green tea mousse, cake pieces and topped with some granola. It wasn't too sweet although there is a lot of cream in the parfait which makes it a really light sundae. However, it did get a little dry in the middle towards the end with the granola and cake pieces after all the ice cream is finished. Nonetheless, the combination of green-tea and red bean  flavors go together extremely well. If you're a fan of green tea, definitely do try it out!

   

Green tea flaky ice 

Milky green tea ice shavings topped with chocolate cookie crumbs and whipped cream. Shaved ice has become a largely popular dessert in recent years and is perfect for a hot summer day. Again this is a very light and fluffy dessert. It is similar to a snow cone except the ice is shaved into very thin pieces, making the texture very smooth and instantly melts in your mouth. This dessert does melt pretty quickly due to its thin slices but nonetheless yummy. Unfortunately this is the only flavor Pastel offers. I really do hope that there'll be more selections in the future =D    

On a separate visit, I had the sweet potato crepe which is a newer item on the menu. It's a really simple crepe dish topped with sweet potato ice cream, syrup, icing sugar, almonds and whipped cream. It wasn't very sweet or heavy just like most of their other desserts. You can tell that the sweet potato ice cream is not an artificial flavour. Overall it was a very light dessert dish that I easily finished. The hot chocolate was very rich and creamy as well.  

Here's a view of the coffee bar work station. Aside from crepes, waffles and sundaes, Pastel offers a good selection of cakes that is displayed neatly in the pastry fridge. They offer a selection of cakes from various different bakery throughout the town. 

This cozy cafe does get crowded later on in the evenings especially during weekends so if you're planning a visit on a Friday evening, be expected to wait in line. Generally Pastel's dessert aren't overly rich, heavy or extremely sweet but they certainly have a lot of unique flavours such as sweet potato, black sesame and taro. I will definitely return again and try out other items on the menu and I'll be sure to update you guys about it! 

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Blogsters in NYC- Beat the heat at Big Gay Ice cream Shop!

Big Gay Ice Cream Shop

Location: East Village - 125 East 7th Street (between 1st Ave and Ave A), New York (West Village Location- 61 Grove St.)

Access: Along bus route and subway line, street parking available

Price:$6-$8

Blogsters' Rating: 5/5

Located in the East Village among many other small restaurants, Big Gay Ice Cream is hands down THE best soft serve ice cream I've ever had! Literally every evening I wanted to come back to try other flavours! in May 2013, The Daily Beast and USA Today ranked Big Gay Ice Cream as the #5 best ice cream parlor in the world - the highest ranked U.S. ice cream parlor on the list. Learn more about the shop here. 

Like all other good restaurants in New York, there was a queue outside the shop. We were lucky to have finished dinner early so the wait was only about 15 minutes. The line extended outside the shop since there was limited space inside. 

After we entered the store, there were still about 6 people in front of us, which gave us just enough time to go through the menu and decide on what to order. There were a lot of unicorn decorations in the shop. I especially liked this mural of the unicorn on the wall. 

 There was a good amount of options on the menu as there were enough choices yet not overwhelming. Aside from cones, they also serve sundaes and milkshakes. 

It's almost our turn! So excited! 

Salty Pimp

We decided to order the salty pimp which is the first item on the menu and it consists of Vanilla ice cream, dulce de leche, sea salt and chocolate dip. It was DELICIOUS. You can just see how hot it is in New York by looking at how fast the ice cream is melting. Yes, it started melting before I began eating. The amount of sea salt in this cone is perfect and compliments the sweetness of the dulce de leche and chocolate coating. The vanilla ice cream was very well done as well with a perfect consistency, creaminess and richness of vanilla flavour. Apparently this new ice cream recipe launched in 2013 developed in collaboration with Ronnybrook Farm Dairy. To top it all off, there is dulce de leche and seasalt inside the cone as well so by the end I could still taste all the flavours!  

American Globs

The American Globs is served in a tray with a spoon. The ingredients include Vanilla ice cream, extra dark pretzels, sea salt and chocolate dip. Without the dulce de leche, this was less sweet but the pretzels gave it a very crunchy texture that again compliments everything very well. If you like having some texture and crunch to your dessert, this is the perfect choice for you! 

Here's a look at their products which includes a cookbook, coffee beans and Big gay ice cream decorations. While I was in New York, they were collaborating with GAP for NYC Pride week. 

I would definitely visit Big Gay Ice cream again the next time I go to New York (hoping they would expand and open a shop in Toronto =) ) and I highly recommend this ice cream shop to everyone! Have fun and enjoy! 

Also Check out our adventure at South Street Seaport's Ramen Burger!    

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.Gelato Simply Italian

.Gelato Simply Italian

Location: 146 Cumberland Street ( Cumberland St. & Avenue Rd)

Access: Along TTC subway line, street parking available

Price: Avg. $5 - $8 per person

Blogsters' Rating: 5/5

Literally tucked away in a parking garage in Yorkville, .Gelato Simply Italian offers the most amazing authentic Italian gelato in the area.  Their very first store (opened in 2010) is located at Yonge and Eglinton, and the Yorkville location is their second store which opened in 2011.  The owner of .Gelato creates his very own gelato recipes, making sure each recipe is unique and brings out the best flavours in them.

Their menu outside gives customers a sneak peek of what .Gelato has to offer.

Their decor is very clean and simple.  As we can see their colourful gelato is the main decor of the whole store.  Small tables are available for those who wants to finish enjoying their gelato before leaving.

.Gelato offers at least 24 different flavours at a time.  Customers are welcome to ask for a taste of the gelato before purchasing.  .Gelato also do not repeat their flavours consecutively once it is sold out.  They always bring out new flavours of gelato, so frequent customers will have different flavours to choose from.

Another look at the gelato in the second fridge.

.Gelato has a huge art display on the wall, which shows you all the flavours that they offer.  I have notice some flavours are very unique and can't be found easily - such as Variegato Nutella, Macedonia, Marron Glace, and Biscotto.

And here are the flavours that we got. =)  All the flavours were beyond delicious.  They were very creamy, smooth, and milky.  Each flavour has their very unique taste and the recipes were well adjusted such that no one flavour is over powering the other and they all compliment each other very well.

.Gelato is definitely a very good place to stop by if you want to give yourself a treat.  Oh did I mention sometimes they have cute Italian guys working? ;)

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